X-Entertainment's Christmas Season & Advent Calendar, 2008.

09/21/2007: “The Real Ghostbusters” Halloween Special.

I’m not late! I’m not late! It’s still the 21st!

Today’s Countdown entry sheds some light on The Halloween Door, a prime time Halloween special from The Real Ghostbusters. It’s one of those rare cases when a “normal” cartoon got its own big special, and I don’t think this one disappointed anyone. From singing Ghostbusters to dancing devils to a revised opening sequence chock full of pumpkin graphics, it had it all.

Posted by Matt. E-mail me!

Discussion Thread: 197 comments

Real Ghostbusters kicked so much ass - I wish it were on DVD

Posted by Glico @ 09/21/2007 10:10 PM EDT

Gilco - they are! I have seen them at blockbuster, not sure about this one though.

Posted by kb @ 09/21/2007 10:12 PM EDT

Not late..i dunno…but luckily enough i have just got home and was here to see it.

Posted by Dan @ 09/21/2007 10:15 PM EDT

I was waiting for this one so I could pass along a link to an absolutely wonderful little Japanese horror flick I watched tonight. It’s called Noroi, which means Curse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGamCYdV2UQ

It’s like Blair Witch meets The Ring. And it’s creepy as hell. And part 12, the final part, is so amazingly cool.

Enjoy, kids. And remember - watch with the lights off! I’M off to read the entry now~

Posted by ChibiSoma @ 09/21/2007 10:16 PM EDT

Groovy, groovy. I have more memories of Slimer on the Hi-C’s I used to (and still) drink (just without Slimer) than I do of the actual show, sadly enough.

Posted by Jessi @ 09/21/2007 10:19 PM EDT

Dr. Crowley seems to be smashing pumpkins “with his bare heads.” Unless it’s a Billy Corgan reference. *winces* I’m always unsure of pointing stuff out.

Oh and YAY I love halloween!

Posted by Katherine @ 09/21/2007 10:26 PM EDT

I didn’t know “REAL Ghostbusters” was on DVD; I’d only seen “Ghost Busters” in stores (The one with Belfry the Bat)

Posted by Glico @ 09/21/2007 10:27 PM EDT

Bare heads? It says “bare hands.” It’s always said “bare hands.” ::whistles::

Posted by Matt @ 09/21/2007 10:34 PM EDT

I forgot how insane the character design on that show was. Is it me, or does the animation look a little better than the normal Saturday show?

Posted by Shawn @ 09/21/2007 10:36 PM EDT

wow, this is the closest i’ve ever been to the top! woot! hows everybody this evening?

Posted by Andrew @ 09/21/2007 10:52 PM EDT

I didn’t know this episode ever existed and I was a huge Real Ghostbusters fan. Did any of you ever watch the more recent show “Extreme Ghostbusters,” where Egon (drawn like he was in Real GB’s) was teaching a group of teens how to ghost-bust? It was suprisingly good. There was an episode where the other three GB’s reunite with Egon, and the original team and the teenage team all get together and go bustin’. Crazy.

Posted by EtHM @ 09/21/2007 10:55 PM EDT

English translation of German:
“If you can decode this code, realizes riesigesInsekt behind you and bites your head away.”
???

Posted by EtHM @ 09/21/2007 10:56 PM EDT

I don’t think they ever put this into the regular RGB episode rotation. I used to watch the show all the time, but never caught this special.

This countdown is making me fall in love with this site all over again. I love you, XE.

Posted by Casual Jeff @ 09/21/2007 11:09 PM EDT

Ah! the Real Ghostbusters! I enjoyed that cartoon when I was a kid… oh, so many memories :D

Posted by yelinna @ 09/21/2007 11:11 PM EDT

EtHM, it’s been a few years since I took German class, so I don’t have a translation for that either.

I remember the Real Ghostbusters…just not this episode. Sad that none of the original actors wouldn’t reprise their roles. We just had to settle for Maurice LaMarche and Lorenzo Music…fair trade, I guess.

I thought of a poll…which other cartoons do you think had kickass Halloween episodes?

I toss in Rocko’s Modern Life and the Treehouse of Horror episodes from the Simpsons (preferably #s 3-7, they were the best)

Posted by Invader Norbert @ 09/21/2007 11:16 PM EDT

“Invader Zim” had an excellent Halloween episode, along with an even better X-Mas episode.

Posted by EtHM @ 09/21/2007 11:19 PM EDT

I used to love the Ghost busters cartoon, then they also made that cheezy one with the gorilla, which kind of sucked though the toys where very well done.

I remember the episodes with the boogy man used to freak me out a bit!

Hey hows the Pokemon game going Matt, I just got my sixth bandage Houndoom and Cubone are defiantly Halloween Pokemon.

Posted by mjgrass @ 09/21/2007 11:22 PM EDT

I have to be honest, I haven’t picked it up once since getting stumped on the guy you have to beat after the Elite Four. I’ve gotta raise another Pokemon at least 30-35 levels before I’ll beat him, and I haven’t been inclined to go through the trouble yet.

Posted by Matt @ 09/21/2007 11:31 PM EDT

The Real Ghostbusters Rocked. They rocked hard.

Anyone else remember watching this on USA’s Cartoon express, at something around 5 AM?

Posted by Cameron T. @ 09/21/2007 11:36 PM EDT

Strange, thats not the boogyman I remember from RGB. The one I remember had goat feet and purple hair with a big ass mouth.

Posted by mjgrass @ 09/21/2007 11:38 PM EDT

Yeah, there was another character (a recurring villain) also named Bogeyman, and he’s probably the more official of the two, since I’m only saying that this episode’s monster is named “Bogeyman” because of that weird song.

Posted by Matt @ 09/21/2007 11:39 PM EDT

Oh no! My head is being bitten away!

Posted by Evin. @ 09/21/2007 11:44 PM EDT

While I don’t remember this special, I was also a fan of “Real Ghostbusters” in the day. One of my favorite finds at the Wildwood Blockbuster was a video of the show with one episode, “Venkmen’s Ghost Repellers,” about the Ghostbusters having to rescue Peter’s dad from the New Jersey Parallelogram. (There’s also two episodes on the “Ghostbusters II” disc in the Ghostbusters 2-movie set.)

Egon was always my favorite, in the movie too. I do like smart men.

Posted by starwenn @ 09/21/2007 11:59 PM EDT

The regular Bogeyman was the creepiest fucking thing as a kid.
That first episode when he comes from the closet, looks at Egon and says “IIII remember youuuuuu…”
That still creeps me out a bit.

Posted by Somethin' Funny @ 09/22/2007 12:08 AM EDT

“It’s also worth noting that J. Michael has one of the most impossible-to-spell surnames in history.”

Heh. Somebody has obviously never been to Pittsburgh.

Posted by Somethin' Funny @ 09/22/2007 12:14 AM EDT

It’s a good thing I gave up my idea of spending today by hitting F5 over and over and instead… well, watched the last leg of the first season of Arrested Development and played five hours of Eternal Sonata. At least some progress in some field was made…

Anywho, I always loved the Ghostbusters cartoon. I had a toy set thing of their building that turned into a Bat-Cave/Ninja Turtle Lair Hybrid. Eventually, the Jurassic Park complex took that role. =P

Posted by Ben @ 09/22/2007 12:23 AM EDT

I REMEMBER THIS! I have the tape somewhere too. The best is the bogeyman sings a great song too as he smashes things!

Posted by Moore_Roger @ 09/22/2007 12:29 AM EDT

Also count me a huge of the RG, but not remembering this at all. I’m pretty sure I even had all of the RG toys, which would be the only time where I would have every toy in a toyline. This cartoon is an underrated classic and needs to be on DVD in season sets.

Posted by JLAJRC @ 09/22/2007 12:34 AM EDT

J. Michael is also a writer of some pretty awesome comics such as supreme power, which is kinda like an f’d up version of the JLA. He’s pretty bold.

Posted by Tenacious Tate @ 09/22/2007 1:23 AM EDT

I definitely don’t remember this, unfortunately, but considering that I was an infant when it aired, I’m not going to hate myself over it. I am, however, intrigued by the mysterious product “Blody” being advertised on one of the Times Square-esque billboards. It’s one O away from bloody, which would fit with the Halloween theme, so I’m guessing that the censors just wouldn’t allow the word “bloody” to be seen on screen. Too bad; it would have been a nice touch.

I saw mention of Diamond/Pearl! There seriously needs to be a Halloween article reviewing all of the ghost-type pokemon. Gengar, Misdreavus, Banette, Dusclops, Sableye, Drifloon, Spiritomb, Darkrai…the possibilities are endless. The ghost-themed episodes from the first season were amazing, too, especially the one where Ash dies in a chandelier accident and decides that he has nothing better to do with his disembodied spirit than ride the carousel in the basement of the mansion with Haunter, even with Misty above weeping over his stiff, lifeless corpse. Pure gold.

Posted by Cordon Bleu @ 09/22/2007 1:30 AM EDT

Definetly one of my all time fave cartoons. One of the few exceptions when a cartoon based on some other existing property actually worked, and worked well. I don’t remember this special, but man do I want to see it now. Thanks Matt for the clips, but where can we get the whole thing, even if it’s split up into parts?

I seem to remember the Boogeyman existing in some other dimension surrounded by doors. Each one led to a child’s closet door, so that he can come into our realm through your closet doors. See, that’s some scary crap right there. I can’t remember if he was the one who had a big punkin for a head, or if there was another big baddie they fought that had a big punkin head. I’m thinking that was another guy…Samhain maybe? The spirit of Halloween? If so, where was he during the Halloween special? And what the heck did the Boogeyman I’m thinking of look like?

Some of my other fave episodes were anything that had to do with the ghost containment unit potentially blowing up or getting monkeyed with. I seem to remember one episode where the guys actually got sucked into it. There was also another cool one where the headless horseman from Sleepy Hollow showed up only this time he rode a motorcycle. And another one I really liked was when there was this haunted house that had a wall that led into another dimension that had ghosts that came out of it. They all came out of holes in the wall and the size of the hole would dictate how big the ghost was. I think at one point Ray went into the wall and when he came out he was kind of crazy and babbling and all his hair had turned white. Then there was a HUGE hole in the wall, and everyone was scared of the size of the ghost that might come out of that so they covered the whole hole up with some big piece of wood or something and just put a tiny hole in the middle. When the ghost came through it got compressed to fit that tiny hole and turned into a teeny little ghost that popped out of it. At least I think that’s how the episode went. I could be a little fuzzy on that.

I’ve seen a few episodes of “Extreme Ghostbusters” and kind of dug them. If I remember correctly there was a goth chick (my kind of girl) and a guy in a wheelchair. I missed the one where the original guys came back but I’d really like to see that. I think I’ll hit up YouTube later and see what I can find.

Does anybody know if Zool (Zuhl?) ever showed up in the cartoon?

Posted by DJ D @ 09/22/2007 1:30 AM EDT

I used to like Venkman when I was little. I thought he was funny because he sounded just like Garfield. However, I too later realized that Egon was better.

“…an enormous insect will come up behind you and bite off your head”… Meh. Das ist falsch. Ich habe noch meinen Kopffffff… Oh Schreck!! Aaaaaahhhhh!!!!!

Posted by Force Captain Adora @ 09/22/2007 1:53 AM EDT

I remember recording this special, taking it to school a couple days later on Halloween, and asking my second-grade teacher if the class could watch it. Which we did. I really loved me some Real Ghostbusters apparently.

The ghost pirates in the Garfield special scared the fuck out of me, though. But it was Garfield, so I persevered.

Posted by Art @ 09/22/2007 1:56 AM EDT

How could you not know that Egon was the best Ghostbuster…?

Posted by kentdoggydog @ 09/22/2007 2:01 AM EDT

Ehh, I liked “When Halloween Was Forever” better. Sam Hain was by far the coolest RGB villian and it was a total shame that they never capitalized with a figure for him in the RGB line. They came up with one during the Extreme Ghostbusters run but it was too little too late.

Posted by MessiahRp @ 09/22/2007 2:10 AM EDT

Messiah: He was a cool dude, and if it’s any consolation to him, I do believe that he’s the only cartoon-exclusive ghost from any version of the animated series to get an action figure.

I actually have another Halloween-themed RGB episode — wasn’t a special, outright, but it probably could’ve been. If I run dry, and I will, I’ll review it later on in October.

Posted by Matt @ 09/22/2007 2:15 AM EDT

Yeah, my parents definitely taped this for me when it aired and I had to have watched it a hundred times. I was all about that laser-lit musical sequence…I missed that. I actually still have the tape, including sweet retro Halloween commercials. Wow, extensive typing on a PSP sucks. The site does look surprisingly good on this browser, though.

Posted by Ken @ 09/22/2007 2:51 AM EDT

The great thing is I can totally see how that would be a consolation.
There’s a thunderstorm going on here tonight! Things are finally getting sweater weathery and I’m excited.

Posted by squee4242 @ 09/22/2007 2:53 AM EDT

Put this on youtube maing

Posted by Ktulu @ 09/22/2007 3:03 AM EDT

I just went to Youtube to watch some old episodes of RGB and noticed that in some episodes Peter sounds like Garfield and in later ones he sounds different, more like a surfer dude or something. Then I looked it up and his original voice actor (Lorenzo Music) WAS the voice of Garfield, but he was eventually fired from RGB because people thought he sounded too much like Garfield. Nooo! I liked the original voice much better (however, it is true that even as a 4-year-old I could tell he sounded a lot like Garfield…)

Posted by Force Captain Adora @ 09/22/2007 3:06 AM EDT

i finally saw Halloween tonight and almost got into a fight. :/ some guy (in a hawaiian shirt!) behind us kept talking the whole movie so like 1/4 through and after multiple seinfeld ‘half turns’, i do a full one and say “hey, shh” and turn back around. he sarcastically goes “excuuuse me” super loud. i think everyone started to feel funny at this point. i turned back around and look at him and he goes “excuse you.” he was acting pissed like i interrupted his conversation. i go “excuse ME? dude just stop talking. its a movie.” and he looked super pissed. but he shut up and ran away once the movie was over. it was pretty awesome, yall shouldve been there. the movie was ok.
ps did you know that samhain is really pronounced ’sow-in’? just a little trivia for ya.

Posted by Eddie Lightning Frog @ 09/22/2007 3:19 AM EDT

What do Hawaiians call Hawaiian shirts?

Posted by Somethin' Funny @ 09/22/2007 3:22 AM EDT

Did anyone besides me watch this version of the Ghostbusters?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filmation’s_Ghostbusters

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/161/351169982_acc31a7771.jpg

Posted by El Loco Gordo @ 09/22/2007 7:39 AM EDT

Holy shit- THANKS for posting about this Ghostbusters special. It aired when my little brother was 5 and he STILL raves about it!

Posted by Muppet Baby @ 09/22/2007 9:02 AM EDT

Being a train buff, my Favorite episode of the real ghostbusters was the one where Peter helps Casey Jones save a train.

Force Captain Adora
If you really want a mindfuck:
In the Ghostbusters movie, Peter Venkman is played by Bill Murray. Murray later went on to do the voice of Garfield in the Garfield animated movie. Weird, huh?

Posted by Cameron T. @ 09/22/2007 9:15 AM EDT

I love TRG. So do my kids . I really wish that they would be put out on DVD. We only have the 2 that are on the Ghostbsters 2 DVD, and we watch them …a lot :)
This Halloween episode looks pretty badass. It has all the perfect ingredients for a great Halloween Special.
Cameron T. I noticed that myself… whooo freaky

Posted by Jenica @ 09/22/2007 9:48 AM EDT

Hey - The Boogaloo??? is back in town.

Posted by Whit @ 09/22/2007 9:52 AM EDT

Sorry for the double post but I just wanted to tell Eddie ..right on dude..I HATE that crap. It’s worse when rude people act like YOU are the one being rude for correcting their behavior.Good Job on not backing down!!

Posted by Jenica @ 09/22/2007 9:54 AM EDT

Wow. I retained a lot more German than I thought. Thanks, four years of painfully awful foreign language classes!

Oh, and for fun with computer translation, I highly recommend Lost in Translation. It’ll automatically run the same phrase through 10 consecutive translations, and come back with complete gibberish. Matt’s German phrase, translated into English by Babelfish and run through the machine, comes out as “If this code is descodificado probably, its enormous later percentage of the error, ends of the mordedura of the contact.” Lovely.

“I may be drunk, Madam, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.” becomes “The woman to it is drunk, has the calm place to the morning, is peace,that is it scurvy.” Hee.

Posted by Jedoc @ 09/22/2007 10:25 AM EDT

The RGB Halloween Special! Matt, is this from that tape I sent you a few years ago? I sent you this special and a tape full of old commecials. Can’t remember if they were both on the same tape or not. Anyway, if this is from me, you have officially made my year.

Posted by Larry @ 09/22/2007 10:27 AM EDT

“”Rocko’s Modern Life” did Halloween? Really? I remember their X-mas one.

For modern cartoons I nominate TMNT (the 2003 series) and SpongeBob. *ducks and covers* No, i’m really going to defend the Spongebob nomination. Yes, it has its “official” Halloween ep but it’s got a bunch of scary ep bonuses, especially with the Flying Dutchman. “Rugrats” has an awesome Halloween ep too.

Posted by Poseid @ 09/22/2007 10:55 AM EDT

I seemed to have long repressed the memory of watching this special–until now. The only part I remember was the Bogeyman musical number. It scared the crap right out of my 7-year-old bowels. The ghosts on GB were always unusually frightening. You’ll never see that on Bratz or Computer Monster Fight or whatever the hell kids watch on Saturday mornings now.

Posted by Amanda AKA Waltzimus Prime @ 09/22/2007 10:55 AM EDT

KentDoggy: I’m also an Egon fan, but then I’m a nerd of course. People try to convince us that the party animal or the leader is the coolest, but we know the truth, nerds rule. That is why:

Donatello is the best Ninja Turtle
Simon is the best Chipmunk
Thelma could kick Daphne’s butt.
Beast is the coolest X-Men.

The only exception I can think of is Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards. Despite having stretchy body parts/leader/nerd, he will ALWAYS be the least popular member of the F4. Even Herbie the Robot is better than him.

Posted by JLAJRC @ 09/22/2007 11:18 AM EDT

My auntie had a whole bunch of Hallowe’en cartoons and movies on a tape. She would play it for us every time we were over around Hallowe’en, and this was my favorite (!!!) thing on that tape (well, aside from all the cool 80’s commercials) But I haven’t seen the Hallowe’en Door, or anything about it, since I was a small child.
You rock!

Posted by Cutie_Kitsune @ 09/22/2007 11:48 AM EDT

“it took 2000 years but the Boogeyman is back in town”…..swear that was one of the lyrics. I’m sure it was a desire of the writers for a nice round # with the proper # of syllables for the line but still, that places the Boogeyman in direct contention with Christ. While the epic battle going on in my head is pretty cool (and has a great soundtrack) I’m confused as to why Jesus would condone an annual worship of demons as part of the ‘contract’ to keep him away. Thinking Judas had something to do with it.

Posted by guy @ 09/22/2007 12:06 PM EDT

El Loco Gordo, no you were not.
Your link messed up, so here is the direct:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filmation%27s_Ghostbusters
The DVDs sound great:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0127569/externalreviews

Posted by THC @ 09/22/2007 12:35 PM EDT

http://agentdvdonline.com/agen...le/articleDetail.jsp?id=439045
“AGENT DVD: Speaking of ‘Ghost Busters,’ did you have any involvement with the 1984 Bill Murray movie?
SCHEIMER: They had to get the rights from us to do the movie. We made a deal with Columbia to use the name. I didn’t think to secure animation rights. I suggested we could do the animated show, but they wanted to do it on their own. I couldn’t work out a deal. We did our own show, and the audience was confused. The live action show had Larry Storch. Those were funny shows for older audiences. Storch was a little crazy. The kids in the cartoon are the children of the guys in the show. The audience was confused. One man said it was terrible what we’d done. He said we’d taken the only black character in the movie and made him a gorilla!”

http://www.the-trades.com/article.php?id=5561
“Obviously a deal was worked out, but how did that carry over into the animation side, because for a while there were two competing shows, Filmation’s Ghostbusters and the so-called Real Ghostbusters.

It was weird. We did the live series in 1975, and the animated series was in the 80s. What happened was, we made a deal with Columbia to give them the rights to do the picture, and we got $500,000 for the use, and I made a dumb move. Oh, and we got 1% of the profit from the pictures. It was amazing. I think they spent something like $65 million, and they grossed something like $150 million, and they never had any profits. That’s when I was exposed to the Hollywood accounting practices. (They weren’t practices — they were well practiced.) And I didn’t make a deal with them that excluded the animation. I never thought of it.

Years after the live picture was released, Columbia decided to do an animated feature. And it was a very nice guy running Columbia, Herman Rush, who had turned out earlier in my history had been an agent for us. So I called Herman and suggested to him, ‘Why not do something together. We’ve got rights, you’ve got rights.’ And our parent company then, Westinghouse, said, ‘Oh, we don’t need them.’ And I said, ‘Bad idea. I think we need them. Because they’ll have one, we’ll have one, and nobody will know what’s going on.’ And as it turned out, that’s essentially what happened.

I think there was a whole generation out there that was only familiar with the feature film, and saw the Filmation cartoon as some sort of copy.

You know, the sadness was, we had the gorilla as part of our original show. They put a black man in the team, and I got a phone call from a nice man — I can’t remember where it was — and he was horrified that we had taken the Columbia picture and turned the African-American into an ape. And I tried to explain, ‘No, you don’t understand, that was in our original picture.’ It was sad. I couldn’t convince that guy that we hadn’t somehow done something terrible.”

Posted by THC @ 09/22/2007 12:41 PM EDT

I totally had the toy version of Bogeyman. At least I think it was. I distinctly remember a ghost figure that had three guy stacked one on top of the other, and the top head was exactly like that.

Man, Ghostbusters was a great toy line.

Posted by Anonymous @ 09/22/2007 12:43 PM EDT

guy:

1. And Malchizedek spake, saying 2. “And does the wise man not name the Philistine neighbor 3. and the Cherithite brother 4. if he come bearing fun-sized Snickers? 5. Verily, I say to you, spurn not the wicked 6. if delicious chocolates be in the offing 7. even down to the angels of the Pit. 8. For seriously, a Snickers would really hitteth mine spot right now. 9. Who I gotta prophesy to get some nougat up ins?”

Posted by Jedoc @ 09/22/2007 1:01 PM EDT

The best RGB episode was when Stay Puft battled a giant Murray the Mantis at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Posted by KJX @ 09/22/2007 1:44 PM EDT

Oh, and by the way, the song in the Halloween special is definitely “Bugaloo’s Back in Town”.

Posted by KJS @ 09/22/2007 1:47 PM EDT

King of the Hill has one of the bestest Hallowe’en episodes. Hank fighting the good fight for the sake of the kids.

And yes, Boogaloo is back in town.

Posted by kingklash @ 09/22/2007 2:20 PM EDT

The “Real” in RGB was added only as a “fuck you” to Filmation.
’s what I’ve always heard.

Posted by Somethin' Funny @ 09/22/2007 2:39 PM EDT

We DEFINITELY need more episodes of halloween-based TV covered in the countdown, this was an AWESOME article :).

Posted by DocDragon @ 09/22/2007 2:50 PM EDT

Oddly, you posted this on Bill Murrays birthday. irony?

Posted by Dan @ 09/22/2007 3:31 PM EDT

This is awesome. I discovered that you had posted this article just minutes before leaving for a long Catholic wedding, so I had to promise myself that it would be my reward for sitting through it.

Posted by Jessica Marie @ 09/22/2007 4:00 PM EDT

I used Lost in Translation on this quote: “To be or not to be, that is the question.” and added Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. Here’s what I got…

“To determine end or because it is not, he is one requests.”

Posted by Andrew @ 09/22/2007 4:20 PM EDT

Looks like they were trying to “go generic” with brand names like in Return of the Killer Tomatoes–note the billboards in Times Square for “Sany” or “Caste” (written in a font similar to Coors). No Magnetbox or Sorny though.

Posted by Andrew @ 09/22/2007 4:33 PM EDT

My fiance just made me beer bong a can of Jones Gruesome Grape out of a skull beer bong. Did you know that if you spill Gruesome Grape all over your arms and the kitchen floor it looks gray not purple? hahaha

I don’t think I remember this episode of RBG. I’m pretty sure I would have remembered seeing it. I was a pretty big RBG fan until I had a nightmare that Venkman had been bitten by some ghost snake-thing and Egon and I put him in the back of the Ghostbusters hearse where he died. It was a really realistic dream and I think I gave up watching the show after that because I was afraid it was an episode I had seen psychically. Don’t ask; I was a strange child.

Posted by Special K @ 09/22/2007 4:55 PM EDT

Hey Matt,

I’m with Messiah on this one. Though the “special opening” was cool, the true GB Halloween Episode was in its prime days with “When Halloween was Forever”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo_HdXgVn60

Runes from 7th century Ireland are brought into the city and Samhein is released who causes time to freeze, eternal night, and halloween to go on forever.

It was so good, they brought Samhain back for a sequel episode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVjiEFW5kfo

In that one he takes over GB headquarters and makes an evil castle of ghosts out of it.

Epic. Do a review on those!

Posted by Danny Man @ 09/22/2007 5:50 PM EDT

Dr. Crowley, Aleister Crowley (Famous occultist, supposedly sold his soul to the devil, Ozzy Osbourne’s “Mr. Crowley”), oh, I get it!

Posted by AccidentalMartyr @ 09/22/2007 6:00 PM EDT

All I have to say is that, to this day, I cannot sleep with my closet doors open thanks to the Bogeyman in the Ghostbusters. Scared the bejesus out of me.

Posted by DarkSideofBrightness @ 09/22/2007 7:03 PM EDT

I’m posting from the woods. A article

Posted by Bill @ 09/22/2007 7:11 PM EDT

A+ article. I miss toliets.

Posted by Bill @ 09/22/2007 7:24 PM EDT

I’ve been visiting this site for so long, I think it’s about time I posted for once!!!

I agree with others that The RGB had long peaked by the time of this Halloween offering. The first season’s classic “When Halloween Was Forever” is a much better showcase for the series.

For some reason, when that was shown in the UK, I didn’t record it on video, but recorded the audio on cassette. I must’ve listened to that thing like, a hundred times, I knew everyword. I think the tape snapped eventually. (For the record, while the first two seasons or so were repeated ad nauseum in UK-wise, I don’t think we got as far down the series as the episode reviewed here).

There are only a couple of “best of” (ie random) episode compliations on DVD at present, but a couple of TV sites have unofficial, for-private-viewing-only off-air DVD collections if you search around a bit.

Posted by Jay Firestorm @ 09/22/2007 7:25 PM EDT

Dontello is indeed the coolest turtle, but Venkman is indeed the best Ghostbuster.

I even like the Garfield movies o_O

Posted by Knegative @ 09/22/2007 7:32 PM EDT

I’m with Matt, Venkman seemed so cool as a kid, but nowadays, Egon is the man.

I’ll still take Teela as my bride, though! =)

Posted by Jay Firestorm @ 09/22/2007 7:36 PM EDT

You mean Cynthia? She’s a gurrrl I’m still in Solaceon. I’ve been there for weeks, breeding and training. I really must move on. I am currently rocking Manaphy, Combusken, Roselia, Houndoom, and my newly acquired Plusle. Mew is my HM Slave. Yay!

Posted by Knegative @ 09/22/2007 8:25 PM EDT

By the way… Why is Egon a blond? WTF?

Posted by Bill @ 09/22/2007 8:27 PM EDT

I just had the best idea, a cross over for TMNT and Ghostbusters where Egon and Donatello work together… holy crap the brains!

Posted by Danny Man @ 09/22/2007 8:34 PM EDT

Throw in Wheeljack and Perceptor and you’ve got a winner, Danny Man!

Posted by Knegative @ 09/22/2007 8:38 PM EDT

Wow, I was wondering today whether or not you had reviewed this episode before in past Halloween countdowns, and imagine my surprise checking X-E after getting home from work to see that you’ve reviewed it!
Great summary of the story, I watched this episode at my grandmother’s house all the time when I was little, and it’s awesome that you included it in the countdown!

Posted by Megan @ 09/22/2007 8:49 PM EDT

RGB, there a show I vaguely remember. Thus, I do not remember seeing this special. Although, most of the episodes I remembers had the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in it. Speaking, of Pokemon, currently my team of Torterra (male), Lucario (female), Luxray (female), Azelf, and Dialga are at level 100, but I decided to take a break from Pokemon and start playing Sonic Rush Adventure. It seems of events pokemon (eg. Darkrai) are impossible to get.

Posted by Kowl @ 09/22/2007 8:51 PM EDT

I’m not sure on this, but wasn’t there an episode that explained why Egon looked so different..?

Dammit. Now I can’t remember for sure. Maybe I just got drunk and hopeful.

Posted by LemonWitch @ 09/22/2007 10:35 PM EDT

They need to release this whole series on DVD. This episode sounds great, I love “Boss” ghosts!

Happy SNT!

Posted by Joker @ 09/22/2007 10:49 PM EDT

and I just had a thought…

How is StatePuff not Gozer?

Posted by Joker @ 09/22/2007 10:51 PM EDT

Joker: Hmmm. StayPuft = Gozer. I guess that is right. Did the cartoon completely dance around this fact? I used to watch this show pretty religiously back in the day and don’t recall Gozer ever being mentioned. That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen however.

BTW, was I the only perverted 8-year-old that was trying to see the “naughty bits” on the actress who was playing Gozer? Sure she had a bad haircut, her teeth weren’t exactly appealing, and her eyes were nothing to write home about… but she was very, errr, shapely.

Sadly I don’t think there was anything to see. Still, as a young lad the search for a nip slip was half of the fun.

So… now that all of that is out there… HAPPY SNT ALL!

Posted by Magic Toy @ 09/22/2007 11:06 PM EDT

I need a good SNT tonight….

Posted by Shuanfu @ 09/22/2007 11:49 PM EDT

Me too! Happy SNT!

Posted by Bill @ 09/23/2007 12:00 AM EDT

Fresh Prince has the Halloween episode on Nick at Nite.

Posted by Bill @ 09/23/2007 12:14 AM EDT

Bill- i just watched it! THE HEX!!! OMGGG!!

Posted by Andrew @ 09/23/2007 12:35 AM EDT

I don’t care what people say…Hilary is the hottest girl of the early ninties.
Andrew, the fact you knew the episode makes you cool in my book.

Posted by Bill @ 09/23/2007 12:39 AM EDT

haha.. thanks Bill!!! - HOW IS EVERYONE TONIGHT? HAPPY SNT!

Posted by Andrew @ 09/23/2007 12:43 AM EDT

WTF! No SNT? come on! So, I hate the new lemon drop dead soda. I got MASSIVE heartburn after like 2 sips. My hands were full at Target today, by the time i got to the halloween aisle, so i stuck all my purchases in a halloween candy bucket and walked around and shopped that way.

I feel bad tho, bc i didnt buy the bucket itself, i just emptied it and left it at the counter…

Posted by mandy_vampire princess_Reeves @ 09/23/2007 12:44 AM EDT

So, is this SNT, or is another countdown entry coming before the end of the night?

Posted by Cameron T. @ 09/23/2007 12:47 AM EDT

Just took out Maylene and I’m heading for Wake. That will be nice, since his badge will finally let me train Combusken some more and get my beloved Blaziken *sigh*

Posted by Knegative @ 09/23/2007 12:51 AM EDT

Mandy: I don’t like the Drop Dead Soda but I love the can. i have a picture of it if you click my name.

Posted by Bill @ 09/23/2007 12:52 AM EDT

Candy Corn is back!!! I am so going to Target.

Posted by Knegative @ 09/23/2007 12:55 AM EDT

I love reading Kneg’s comments, because as a non-gamer, it totally fucks me up.

Posted by Bill @ 09/23/2007 12:57 AM EDT

I had the explaination all typed out, Bill. Then I realized that I don’t want to deprive you of the joy of not knowing

Posted by Knegative @ 09/23/2007 1:09 AM EDT

Never dissapoint Kneg, never dissapoint.

Posted by Bill @ 09/23/2007 1:11 AM EDT

Wait– Fresh Prince Halloween? I am SO there. When is it, 12:00?

Posted by AccidentalMartyr @ 09/23/2007 1:15 AM EDT

Man, I wish this was official SNT. Just isn’t the same without the official blog post with some sort of witty heading of sorts. Eh, I guess this is okay.

Posted by AccidentalMartyr @ 09/23/2007 1:18 AM EDT

Hello? Anybody home?

Posted by AccidentalMartyr @ 09/23/2007 1:28 AM EDT

I am still here, AM, I am still here.

Not the one you’re looking for, you say?

Well darling, that’s the story of my life.

Posted by Knegative @ 09/23/2007 1:36 AM EDT

Touche.

Posted by AccidentalMartyr @ 09/23/2007 1:38 AM EDT

I’m out. Futurama & SNL (or Home Movies) for me. Fun time!

Posted by AccidentalMartyr @ 09/23/2007 2:00 AM EDT

Oh how I loved The Real Ghostbusters. I forgot how much the characters’ voices matched the voices of the original actors. Ol’ whats-his-face did a bang up job imitating Bill Murray.

Every instance of “RGB” in the article only made me think of “RGB as in “red blue green”. That’s what I get for being such a geek.

Holy crap, my Wal-Mart had suck in the area of Halloweeny stuff. I did however notice that they moved the Halloween stuff to another area and replaced it with Christmas stuff. I mumbled to myself “It’s freakin’ September.”

Posted by Justin @ 09/23/2007 2:08 AM EDT

Yeah, at my Rite-Aid, there was a fucking Christmas section! And to add insult to injury, it was right next to the Halloween shit! The fuck!

Aw well, I’ll be happy about it in a couple months.

Posted by Cotter @ 09/23/2007 2:10 AM EDT

OMG Home Movies, one of the best cartoons that a lot of people have never heard of. I freakin love Coach McGuirk.

Posted by Crazy_Mainer @ 09/23/2007 3:12 AM EDT

I haven’t watched this show in years, and just recently noticed a slight anime style to the drawings. Maybe it’s just cause I’ve gotten into anime in the last few years, but there were several Japanese names in the credits, and like Inspector Gadget (which had a very apparent Japanese look), apparently it was another DIC production.

It sure was well-written and intelligent for a kids’ show. A little risque at times too… There was another episode with a crazy guy who hated chickens and made a deal with a demon to banish them from earth. The Ghostbusters go to a librarian from whom the guy checked out occult books, and the librarian gives Egon her address. Egon asks if she knows anything about chicken or something like that, and she replies, “I could get you some.” Hmmm…

Posted by The Real Andrew @ 09/23/2007 3:20 AM EDT

I’m pretty sure it was DIC. There was a point earlier in the DIC programs where after the credits all rolled, they showed the DIC logo and you hear a kid’s voice say “DIC”. Weird stuff.

Super Mario Bros. show was also a DIC production! Wheee!

Posted by Justin @ 09/23/2007 3:24 AM EDT

Cool… I didn’t realize X-E’s SNT was big enough for it’s own urban dictionary entry, but apparently so….

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=snt

Of course this may have been noted in an earlier comment somewhere but heck if I am digging through all these posts.

Posted by MessiahRp @ 09/23/2007 4:08 AM EDT

Egon is blonde mostly due to the fact that the cartoon didn’t have the rights to the visual appearances of the movie stars. Hence things like making Ray plump and ginger!

There was a story in the UK RGB comics where, shortly after the events of the first movie, some spores Egon was growing had a bad effect on him,and turned his movie-style hair into the punked-up blonde of the cartoon series.

Posted by Jay Firestorm @ 09/23/2007 8:14 AM EDT

Your story makes much more sense Jay Firestorm, but for some reason when I was a little kid I always thought it was because the people who made the show thought we’d be too dumb to tell them apart if they all had dark hair.

Posted by Jasmine @ 09/23/2007 9:13 AM EDT

I have a bootleg copy of the first season of Real Ghostbusters, last night I watched the Halloween episode called “When Halloween was Forever”. It’s about the evil ghost SamHain escaping imprisonment on Halloween and attempting to magically make the night last eternity.
The cool thing is, SamHain looks exactly the The Great Pumpkin, or a lot like I imagined the Great Pumpkin would look.

Posted by Joker @ 09/23/2007 11:54 AM EDT

But I thought the Great Pumpkin was good, not eeeeeevil. (Did anyone else think Samhaine also sounded like he had a Japanese accent?)

Posted by The Real Andrew @ 09/23/2007 12:55 PM EDT

That’s an interesting bit about why Egon’s hair was blond and “tunelly” looking, Jay Firetsorm. It reminds me of something. Remember how Janine looked a bit different each season? Sometimes she had more punkish hair, and and her glasses changed. Well, I remember that one of the later season shows had Egon follow her on this one day of the year that she always disappeared (maybe her birthday?) and found out she talked to a huge ghost that came out of the Hudson river, and made a deal with her to change her appearance. Something like that!

Posted by CMJ @ 09/23/2007 1:41 PM EDT

Danny Man:

Hadent seen that episode in years! thanks for that

Posted by mjgrass @ 09/23/2007 2:23 PM EDT

CMJ Wow, that’s pretty cool. I love it when they do stuff like that to explain little details. Yeah, I too used to wonder why none of the characters looked at all like their movie counterparts. Well, Egon did a little, except for the hair thing.

By the way, I’m at my new job as I type this, grossly misusing company resources. But, there’s nothing to do and since everyone else is either playing video games, reading online comics, or generally sitting around talking about nothing, I don’t think this will be too much a violation. I’m just glad I’m finally at a job that allows me to do my X-E postings at work. Makes coming to work a lot more enjoyable.

Posted by DJ D @ 09/23/2007 2:56 PM EDT

Sorry for the potential double post, but I just had to mention this. I just went back and watched the little clips and does anyone else notice that they kind of milked Winston’s “token” status for all it was worth? He seemed to get all the prime singing parts in the musical number, did a little more dancing and generally had a lot more soul than everyone else.

And did I just watch the Boogyman do the Moonwalk? Did that just happen?

Posted by DJ D @ 09/23/2007 3:10 PM EDT

Sorry I missed SNT (sort of). I tried posting last night, but my messages wouldn’t appear. In fact I don’t even know if this will go through.

Anyway, thanks for the Danny Man.

Posted by Magic Toy @ 09/23/2007 5:42 PM EDT

Manimal: Don’t forget to watch “The War” on PBS tonight!

Posted by Bill @ 09/23/2007 6:58 PM EDT

fyi i went to headless horseman hayride last night….they were filming for the “travel channel” keep your eyes open. a good time was had by all.

Posted by leo @ 09/23/2007 7:00 PM EDT

OMG these are so cool if you ever played the Oregon Trail game on Apple II you have to see this shirt

http://www.thewirelesscatalog....ail-Shirts_VE9662G_ps_dpr.html

Posted by Goob @ 09/23/2007 7:58 PM EDT

Oh man, I loved playing Oregan Trail at school.

Posted by Knegative @ 09/23/2007 8:08 PM EDT

Hah! That is an unbelievably terrific shirt, Goob. Game day in the computer lab was the best. Especially when you named all your party members after your buddies, and then yelled at them across the room when they got cholera or drowned due to terrible river management.

If you’ve got Firefox and some time to kill, click my name for an Apple II emulator which includes Oregon Trail. Remember to buy plenty of ammo, kids.

Posted by Jedoc @ 09/23/2007 8:20 PM EDT

i just spent wayyyy too much money on halloween junk at wal-mart. ugh..

Posted by The REAL - real Andrew @ 09/23/2007 8:30 PM EDT

Samhain is the name of an actual evil demon with a pumpkin head? Sound very Jack Chick-ish.

Posted by Monte @ 09/23/2007 9:17 PM EDT

Man, I remember being so ticked when I missed this as a kid! Got to find this episode to make up for all the years of shame!

Posted by Capt. Struggle Bunny @ 09/23/2007 9:46 PM EDT

Apparently Samhain was a seasonal festival, not an actual god or demon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain

Heh, it’s actually the word for “November” in the Irish Gaelic language.

On another note, in a Christmas episode, the Ghostbusters get transported back to 1830s London in A Christmas Carol, and accidentally suck up the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. So Egon has to actually go inside the container and rescue them, all while dodging Samhain and some other captured ghosts.

Posted by The Real Andrew @ 09/23/2007 10:09 PM EDT

I love that episode.
check it out here..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qihweKlTMEQ

Posted by JoshC @ 09/23/2007 10:17 PM EDT

yeah, at the end of the episode they allude to Samhain plotting revenge in the containment unit. As if he would be a recurring villain.

Posted by Joker @ 09/23/2007 10:27 PM EDT

so…I hope matt is okay…man, it seems every mom and pop ice cream store has pumpkin flavor this year. oh brb…gotta check the taste of the strawberry slime soda now…wow…its actually pretty good! though i have no clue why its called strawberry s’lime with the apostrophe

Posted by mandy_pumkin head_Reeves @ 09/23/2007 10:50 PM EDT

mandy

I’m guessing because there’s a lime flavor as well as a strawberry flavor?

Posted by Cameron T. @ 09/23/2007 11:04 PM EDT

I always figured Janine was working on making Egon over.

Joker - Mr. Sta-Puft was the Destroyer. Gozer was the chick with the flattop covered in soap bubbles.

Posted by Moony @ 09/23/2007 11:13 PM EDT

Man, you would have to bring up Oregon Trail. I don’t know about you guys, but at my school if you weren’t a banker from Boston you might as well hang it up right now. You were screwed. Oh, and as far as the river goes–you gotta fork it. Fork it real good.

Posted by DJ D @ 09/23/2007 11:37 PM EDT

DJ D

I think you mean Ford the river, right?

Anyway, Oregon Trail saw many many MANY hours of play when I was a kid…Great game that I revisit every now and then..

Posted by Cameron T. @ 09/23/2007 11:41 PM EDT

Oh Crap, forgot to close the tag. Hope I didn’t screw up the whole blog.

Posted by Cameron T. @ 09/23/2007 11:45 PM EDT

Leo where is this headless horseman hayride located? Is there actually a Sleepy Hollow? In New York state? Forgive me, I am too lazy to try to research it online…

Posted by crazy_mainer @ 09/24/2007 12:00 AM EDT

For those ShowBiz Pizza and Rock-afire Explosion fans out there…. enjoy.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/...and_bd_23sep23,1,1728285.story

Boy was I shocked to see a photo of Fatz staring back at me when I checked the chicagotribune.com front page this morning. Gotta love it.

Posted by Magic Toy @ 09/24/2007 12:03 AM EDT

Does anyone remember the “Ghostbusters” cartoon that didnt have the “real” cast in it? Man did I feel cheated having wasted my time watching those posers on the other show. Ah well, hindsight is 20/20

Posted by spectre1979 @ 09/24/2007 12:16 AM EDT

Hey guys, sorry about the lack of a formal SNT. I was gone overnight on Saturday with no access to a computer, though I intended to bring my phone to post it remotely. Forgot my phone. :O

Next Countdown entry will be posted…well, tonight, if we count right now as Monday.

To some of the points mentioned above:

1) I’m a little rusty on this, but the gorilla-boosted “Ghost Busters” cartoon technically wasn’t a rip on the Ghostbusters we know and love. The animated series was based on a live action series from the ’70s (called “Ghost Busters”), but it’s true that there probably wouldn’t have been an animated series if the movie wasn’t such a smash.

2) It’s true that the RGB folks weren’t at liberty to make the Ghostbusters look exactly like their movie counterparts, but count me in as someone else who thinks that Egon went blonde to help differentiate a couple of guys who would’ve more or less looked too similar in animated form.

Also, Kneg, just saw your comment up there…is it Cynthia? I honestly can’t remember. It’s the guy/girl you face right after beating the Elite Four. I kind of knew from past Pokemon games that there would be an extra opponent, but after successfully killing the Elite Four after no less than 50 failed attempts only to get my ass handed to me by the Elite Fifth, I had to put the brakes on for a while.

Posted by Matt @ 09/24/2007 12:43 AM EDT

yeah heh the computer room in elementary school only had a few of the ‘colored’ screens and plenty of the orange and black or green and black screens. The quickest kids got the colored and bragged the rest of the afternoon.

Hey is anyone watching the Family guy star wars special? Did anyone watch it? I have about 15 mins more left, not a star wars nut but I find it amusing. Makes me want to watch the robot chicken one that I haven’t seen yet.

Posted by Goob @ 09/24/2007 12:45 AM EDT

Yeah, because you fight your Rival right before the elite 4, and the only one after them is the league champion, Cynthia.

She’s at the bottom of this page:
http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-elite-four-members

Posted by Knegative @ 09/24/2007 1:01 AM EDT

Cameron T Yeah, it is Ford. What did I say? It’s getting too late for this…

Oh, and way to screw up the whole blog. Good job.

Posted by DJ D @ 09/24/2007 1:10 AM EDT

For Cynthia…she’s a bitch. There’s really no common weakness whatsover between her pokemon, save for Garchomp & Roserade who are both weak to ice.

My advice: Have at least 1 pokemon be as strong or stronger than Cynthia’s Garchomp (level 63) and have a pokemon have an ice attack like Ice beam or you’re pretty screwed. My Empoleon that was around 62 or so had ice beam and was the only one still standing, and managed to kill Roserade only with Ice Beam because Roserade only used Shadow ball and not Energy Ball (what Empoleon was weak against).

I’ve realized that this might be the first 3 members of the Elite 4 had weaknesses to one of the respective starters:

Aaron: Bug types (monferno)
Bertha: Ground Types (torterra)
Flint: Fire Types (empoleon)

Also, Goob, I saw it and thought it was awesome.

Speaking of Robot Chicken, wait until the end. It’s all worth it.

Posted by Invader Norbert @ 09/24/2007 1:13 AM EDT

Family guy was pretty funny. My favorite RGB episode was the one in which they fought the ghosts in the attic that seemed to stretch on forever. That one scared me as a kid.

Posted by Purple Tentacle @ 09/24/2007 1:15 AM EDT

yes Invader Norbert yes! I love how Chris ran out of the room crying. Easter egg? Hmmmmm ‘touches chin and ponders’

I tried to play my best on the Oregon Trail game earlier I couldn’t hunt though because everytime I pushed the space bar the screen automatically scrolled to the bottom of the page. Aint that a bitch

Posted by Goob @ 09/24/2007 1:25 AM EDT

“You have died of dysentery.” Killer tagline there. There’s also been a Net meme with a picture of the gravestone reading “Here Lies Tony pepperony (sic) and cheese” As in “What do you want on your tombstone”, gettit?

I always took the Barlow Toll Road myself. The river towards the end always scared me.

I think I too remember fighting over the computer with the color screen in the computer room. To think that color screens were considered high-tech…and there wasn’t even really an Internet when I was in 3rd grade (circa 1990). Those were the days…

Posted by The Real Andrew @ 09/24/2007 2:02 AM EDT

After watching my beloved Bears get slapped around by Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys I decided to catch up on the Fox premieres I DVR’d.

Out of The Simpsons, King of the Hill, and Family Guy, I would have to say that KotH definitely was the cream of the crop, IMHO.

Definitely. Definitely. Hmmmm. Definitely

Son. Of. A. Bitch.

OK, I now resume this blog response about thirty minutes later. Reading the word definitely up there reminded me of when I was writing out a dozen or so Thank You cards on Saturday night.

Stupidity is… Spelling the word “definitely” incorrectly on Thank You cards that you are sending to your friends and family. I distinctly remembered writing that word more than once.

Frustration is… Being smart enough to realize, over 24 hours later, that you did misspell the word but not knowing on which cards.

Mega-frustration… Having to open up all of the stamped envelopes to correct the two cards that had the word incorrectly written. Thankfully I was able to salvage all but one stamp since they are stickers, not the old lick/glue kind.

AAAAARRRRGGGHHHHH. Shoot me.

BTW, has anyone else done that before? By “that” I mean make a silly little mental error, not catch it while you are doing it, but still discover your mistake long after the fact? I mean it is strange… I spelled the word wrong… didn’t notice… but somehow my brain did take note of it and I eventually caught it. Weird. Where were you on Saturday brain? Where?

Posted by Magic Toy @ 09/24/2007 4:17 AM EDT

Too beat a dead horse, RGB needs to come out in full seasons on DVD. Also, I too have always felt that The real bogeyman (not the one in the halloween special) is the scariest ghost from the show. Again, great article Matt!

Posted by Jay @ 09/24/2007 7:54 AM EDT

CMJ I had to do some searching but the episode you mean is “Janine, you’ve changed” and can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ress8SWrCkM

Posted by Primus @ 09/24/2007 10:34 AM EDT

I liked the post-movie opening credits on The Simpsons, I thought that was neat. I hope we’ll be seeing Colin too. As for KotH, I’m just happy to get another season, and that I remembered to DVR it. Family Guy was okay, but I thought the end was the funniest part. For a Star Wars geek, Robot Chicken did a better job. Or maybe I just hate being subjected to that “hilarious” dirty old man character.

Posted by squee4242 @ 09/24/2007 10:40 AM EDT

I think one of my favorite episodes of ghostbusters would be “the revenge of murray the mantis”. Ghostbusters was my favorite franchise as a kid, and still is till this day.

Does anyone in here remember the later series, “Extreme Ghost busters”? Most of the early episodes were pretty hokey, but there were alot of good ones, such as where the original ghostbusters have a reunion, and have to team up with the new ones.

Posted by asdfnick @ 09/24/2007 12:50 PM EDT

oops, I failed to read that “extremem ghostbusters” had already been mentioned.

Posted by asdfnick @ 09/24/2007 12:52 PM EDT

I too am a fan of the Samhain Halloween episode…am I wrong in thinking that there was a second Samhain Centric episode? Will have to do some digging around on the Internets to find out. Awesome review Matt…Can’t wait to see what is yet to come!

Posted by Gregor! @ 09/24/2007 1:17 PM EDT

I’m old enough to have watched Filmation’s Ghost Busters way back in the 70’s, and I loved it because it was so corny. Their later cartoon shouldn’t have tried so hard to compete with RealGB, and stayed away from their usual “and a wise-cracking/cutesy side character” that nearly every adventure-type cartoon has been saddled with since the 80’s. Although I liked the skull telephone and the race to answer it before it tries to take a message.

Posted by kingklash @ 09/24/2007 2:06 PM EDT

Does anyone else buy ALL of the yankee candle halloween scents….or is that just me? This year I got purrchouli, boonilla, some licorice scented candles from Wal-mart as well as cream-brulee and buttercream and melted them all together in a jar warmer. It’s a perfect Halloween smell….especially the patchoulli.

Posted by sublimesting @ 09/24/2007 2:12 PM EDT

Yall know that watchin them ghoust busters gives autie may the winds like a tornada in a trailer park. I think it could also be like that ranch beans she likes, but I wanna blame that ghoust busters for this.

Posted by Bubba Joe @ 09/24/2007 5:41 PM EDT

i hope matt’s all right, ..

Posted by oh andrew @ 09/24/2007 5:46 PM EDT

Matt’s probably fine, just loaded with work–

The real Boogeyman episode, not the Halloween special is called “The Boogeyman Cometh” and the character is something like a Chicago-style Mobster. Is that correct?
Anyway, for my money, one of the scariest ghosts was the Sandman! He has this raspy voice that was just creepy!

Posted by Joker @ 09/24/2007 5:59 PM EDT

anyone else love are you afraid of the dark? - the episodes with the original cast. suchhhh a good show!

Posted by oh andrew @ 09/24/2007 6:05 PM EDT

yeah, I used to watch that show when it was part of SNICK- Big Orange Couch style

Posted by Joker @ 09/24/2007 6:45 PM EDT

Mmm I used to have this big Chocolate cake every Saturday. Called it SNICK cake. Shit those were good times.

Matt’s fine, I sent him an e-mail and he shot me back one last night. Like Joker said probably loaded with work.

Posted by Cotter @ 09/24/2007 7:02 PM EDT

PS- Everyone has to see the movie “Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon”
It’s a mockumentary about a Slasher ala Michael Myers, Jason, etc. It is funny as hell- If you’re a fan of that Halloween stuff, you might like it
(sorry bout the double)

Posted by Joker @ 09/24/2007 7:03 PM EDT

No need to thank me, your so deemed “double post” is now a “post”.

I’ll have to look into the movie. I’ve gotta admit, the first thing I thought of when I saw the title was the Alice Cooper song. You know the one.

Yeah, but he’s baaack. He’s the maaaan behiiiind the mask!

Posted by Cotter @ 09/24/2007 7:08 PM EDT

Behind the Mask is a great movie…weird, and hard to tell what is supposed to be funny or not, but a great movie.

Posted by Shuanfu @ 09/24/2007 7:25 PM EDT

After all this, I’m going to be spending some considerable time on You Tube checking out some of these episodes. I noticed some of them are in their entirety, just split up into several parts. I second all the sentiments that I wish the the seasons would be completely released, instead of these themed collections they keep putting out.

Yeah, I’ve heard good things too about the “Behind the Mask” movie. It’s supposed to have a lot of genre stars in it, like Robert Englund and Kane Hodder and such.

I saw some really cool stuff at Walgreens yesterday. They had the hanging puppet deals that Matt wrote about a few articles ago, as well as the plastic glasses and goblets and things that seem to come around every year that I always say I’m going to get but never do (but that changes this year, dammit!). But the coolest was, get this…shot glasses featuring Freddy, Jason, and Leatherface. They came in packs of 2, one pack for each guy, and each pack was only $2.99. On one side you had the killer’s head popping out you all in 3D, and the other side had a cool graphic saying “Friday the 13th” or what have you. Yeah, that’s going on the shopping list when I finally do my big Halloween shopping spree in a couple of weeks.

Posted by DJ D @ 09/24/2007 7:36 PM EDT

Am I the only one here who noticed that the singing bad guy here is NOT the Boogeyman? The Boogeyman made a few appearances in the Real Ghostbusters cartoon, but this is NOT him! This character is called Boogaloo and the song he’s singing is “Boogaloo’s Back in Town” NOT “Bogeyman’s Back in Town”. It’s rare that Matt overlooks stuff like this from 80’s cartoons, but I guess I’m just a bigger geek than he is.

Posted by Mike D. @ 09/24/2007 7:40 PM EDT

Chibi, thank you for that movie link you posted way up at the top of the page, it was awesome.

Posted by the Gripp @ 09/24/2007 7:41 PM EDT

Just thought I’d scare some Halloweeny scans from a Batman Beyond comic I found on scans_daily:

http://community.livejournal.c...cans_daily/2578815.html#cutid1

The plot: It’s Halloween night, and the demon Etrigan is free to run wild in Gotham. Future Batman is following him around to keep the carnage to a minimum.

Posted by TB Tabby @ 09/24/2007 7:57 PM EDT

anyone else see the episode of RGB where they were turned into cartoons (no change in appearance, though)?

Posted by lumpling @ 09/24/2007 8:35 PM EDT

My bad. He totally is saying “Boogaloo.” I’ve spent the past week spreading false information about the name of a monster in an old RGB cartoon…the only solution is BLOOD ATONEMENT.

Posted by Matt @ 09/24/2007 8:42 PM EDT

Boogaloo? I liked him better when he was the Boogeyman! an official big bad!
Can’t take him seriously anymore now that he is some made up guy named Boogaloo.

Right now I’m watching the creepy movie that Chibi posted a link to.

Posted by Joker @ 09/24/2007 9:15 PM EDT

Matt: If you don’t use that post as a segue into a Countdown entry about fake blood capsules, you’re recklessly squandering serendipity.

Posted by Jedoc @ 09/24/2007 9:25 PM EDT

totally, Blood Capsules tasted so terrible but it was so worth it

Posted by Joker @ 09/24/2007 9:27 PM EDT

Serendipity, another word I want to use someday.

Posted by Matt @ 09/24/2007 9:30 PM EDT

lumpling I saw that one. Some guy that created all these cartoon charcters got sucked into his own cartoon and they were there to find him or something like that. I remember one part where somehow they ended up getting all dripping wet and someone said all they had to do was just walk off frame and then walk back into frame. Sure enough, they did and came back into the frame perfectly dry. I remember noticing things like that in cartoons when I was a kid and thinking even then it was kind of weird.

Oh, and not to be a nagging nelly, but on the east coast here it’s a little after 9:30pm, um you know…getting pretty close to midnight, and what with the countdown being a daily thing during the week and all….well, this Ghostbusters thing was from a few days ago, and well….ahem…well, I’m just sayin’ is all.

Posted by DJ D @ 09/24/2007 9:37 PM EDT

Hey now. Countdowns are weekdays only! I haven’t lost to the clock yet.

Posted by Matt @ 09/24/2007 9:38 PM EDT

I read that “Cowboys are weekdays only!”
No way man. Cowboys are for every day.

Posted by Jessica Marie @ 09/24/2007 9:48 PM EDT

I have the upmost faith.

Oh, but I am slightly disappointed in one thing though. I think you mentioned on one of the other boards for one of the other articles that you don’t do all the code and design or some such for the site. I agree with what the person who brought it up was saying at the time. X-E is one of the best looking sites on the web and so well laid out and I was so impressed that one guy could do all this one his own (not that I’m not still impressed, mind you..far from it), but then to find out that you only do part of it (still not sure what all that entails)….well, it was kind of a “pay no mind to the man behind the curtain” kind of thing. Pulling that curtain aside and seeing that you weren’t quite the omnipotent giant head in the sky that I thought you were was a tiny bit of a let down. I’ll pretend I didn’t see it though.

Posted by DJ D @ 09/24/2007 9:51 PM EDT

On the bright side, Jacks will be happy to hear you say that.

If it makes you feel any better, the background of the blog is actually a doodle I made in a notebook with 10,000 filters on top. I made that!!

Posted by Matt @ 09/24/2007 9:53 PM EDT

Oh, to clarify: Jacks designs the main page and the top headers. (Like, where it says “home, blog…” on top. I do all of the articles, specific entry graphics, Trapper Keeper logos and whatnot. I just don’t have enough finesse for the primary schtuff.

Posted by Matt @ 09/24/2007 9:54 PM EDT

Its 10pm, do you know where your Halloween article for today is?

Posted by Chris @ 09/24/2007 10:06 PM EDT

I’m writing it, I’m writing it. Sorry, they have me working this week.

Posted by Matt @ 09/24/2007 10:07 PM EDT

Sorry man. Take your time.

Posted by Chris @ 09/24/2007 10:12 PM EDT

Well, the background’s just swell. I too do catch myself from time to staring at it trying to figure out what all those little doodles are. Finesse or not, it gives me hope that I can come up with something as cool and graphically interesting. My new job allows me to work around a lot of folks that know more about all that jazz than I do. I’ve got loads of ideas for that kind of thing, but beyond some basic HTML and some finesse with Photoshop, I’m fairly limited.

Posted by DJ D @ 09/24/2007 10:16 PM EDT

Yea, the background is pretty cool. I love it how it is graphicly interesting (better than the standar black background that most sites got goin) while at the same time being muted enough to visually make the article stand out against it, aming it the focus of the page.

Posted by Chris @ 09/24/2007 10:19 PM EDT

I got lucky on the background. I’ve tried to modify it for different designs, and it doesn’t work. Like, for Halloween, I wanted to adjust the hue and make it more greenish…it looked terrible. Tried orange…looked terrible. Tried just darkening it…looked terrible.

You can tell I’m procrastinating now. Back to work with me.

Posted by Matt @ 09/24/2007 10:22 PM EDT

Hey, theres nothing like procrastinating work late at night.

What about just switching a few of the doodles with some halloween ones. Stuff like a crudely drawn pumpkin, witch, skull, ect.

Posted by Chris @ 09/24/2007 10:27 PM EDT

What about just switching a few of the doodles with some halloween ones. Stuff like a crudely drawn pumpkin, witch, skull, ect.

Good thinking, Batman. However, as much as I’m an ardent supporter of almost all forms of procrastination, I’m going to greedily vote against it for the next hour and a half in favor of more Countdown. Let’s all collectively crack the whip.

Posted by DJ D @ 09/24/2007 10:34 PM EDT

Haha, sounds like a good plan.
Well, I gotta wake up at 6am for ROTC physical training, so il just go to sleep now and read the article tommorow.

Posted by Chris @ 09/24/2007 10:38 PM EDT

Matt,

Don’t let us distract you. I totally blew off my work over the weekend and it took about 5 cups of coffee to bull shit my through it Sunday. I also agree with the crudely drawn pumpkins or witches idea. I totally have the image in my head, I’d be glad to send you a little 500×500 of it. Pixels, that is.

By the way, I always loved the way you set up the articles. I used to want to do things like that in the geocities days, but I felt like I’d be ripping your shit. Good times with clip art.

Posted by Cotter @ 09/24/2007 10:43 PM EDT

Real Ghostbusters were a prominent figure in my childhood and I’m convinced left such a positive impression of Halloween on my soft mallable brain. I’ve always wanted to see Play Them Ragtime Boos.

Posted by s @ 09/25/2007 3:30 PM EDT

holy crap The real ghostbusters is on tv right now on teletoon in canada if any one wants to watch it

Posted by y2jay @ 09/27/2007 4:01 PM EDT

It’s been a long time since I watched it, but I always thought that the reason the contract was still in effect was because the little girl was wearing a homemade Ghostbusters costume and trick-or-treating. Maybe the machine only took away store-bought costumes, or she put hers together afterwards, I don’t know.

Posted by Ronald MacKinnon @ 09/30/2007 7:45 PM EDT

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